Sept 9th 2008 - Conditions of entry and residence of Third Country Nationals

Delivered by Derek Clark on 9 September 2008

Tags: employment, third, country, natinals, resident, qualified, undeveloped, africda

Speech to Employment committee Brussels Sept 9th 2008 Debate: Conditions of entry and residence of Third Country Nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment.

My President I am not against immigrants, my country has a long record of accepting people from across the world. But this is about highly qualified people and there are considerations.

I have no problem with highly qualified people coming to my country from another well developed country. A year or two ago the UK health service recruited 100 nurses from Norway, which is as prosperous as we are. I saw no problem with that, if Norway could spare them, well and good. I do object to highly qualified people coming to Europe from undeveloped countries.

To come to extend their education, to receive training and to stay a short while to gain experience is fine but no more. Such highly qualified people are needed in their own countries to help build their prosperity. I want to see prosperous countries around the world. Highly qualified people going back to, say, Africa, will do more good for those backward countries than throwing money at them.

Derek Clark MEP Brussels Sept 9th 2008